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Social Security Act 2018

Obligations - Beneficiaries’ obligations - General obligations: holding, and giving details of, bank account

111: Beneficiary must hold, and give MSD details of, bank account

You could also call this:

“You need a bank account for your benefit and must tell MSD about it”

You must have a bank account if you want to receive a benefit. Here’s what you need to know:

When you apply for a benefit, you need to tell the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) about your bank account. If you don’t have one, you need to open one. You have to do this by a certain date that the government sets.

Your bank account can be with different types of banks or financial groups. These include registered banks, private savings banks, credit unions, building societies, or non-bank deposit takers.

If you can’t have a bank account for some reason, MSD might make an exception for you. But usually, having a bank account is required to get your benefit.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6783333.

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Part 3 Obligations
Beneficiaries’ obligations: General obligations: holding, and giving details of, bank account

111Beneficiary must hold, and give MSD details of, bank account

  1. It is a condition of every benefit, unless MSD in a particular case determines otherwise, that the applicant or beneficiary must, by the deadline (specified by regulations made under section 438(2)(a)(ii)) for receipt by MSD of any supporting evidence reasonably required by MSD,—

  2. give MSD details of an existing suitable bank account held by the applicant or beneficiary; or
    1. open a bank account, if the applicant or beneficiary does not hold one, and give MSD details of it.

      1. Bank account, in this section, means an account with a bank that is a registered bank (as defined in section 2(1) of the Banking (Prudential Supervision) Act 1989), a private savings bank, a credit union, a building society, or a non-bank deposit taker (as defined in section 5 of the Non-bank Deposit Takers Act 2013).

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      Notes
      • Section 111(2): amended, on , by section 300(1) of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021 (2021 No 31).